Positive early results

STOCKTON - Since October 2011, the local criminal justice system has changed shape as millions of dollars and hundreds of criminal offenders flowed from the state in a two-fold effort to reduce crowding in state prisons while giving those accused of less-serious felonies a better chance of turning their lives around by getting the help they needed closer to home.

Questions about sweeping changes to the local criminal justice system under realignment? The San Joaquin County Community Corrections Partnership is holding its first AB109 Realignment Forum on Thu...

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Realignment forum

Questions about sweeping changes to the local criminal justice system under realignment? The San Joaquin County Community Corrections Partnership is holding its first AB109 Realignment Forum on Thursday. It includes a 10 a.m. panel discussion from top county and court officials after guest speakers Dr. Edward Latessa, director of the University of Cincinnati School of Criminal Justice, and former inmate and current San Francisco State professor Michael Santos.

The free and public forum on realignment and reducing recidivism is scheduled from 8 to 11 a.m. Thursday at the Stockton Civic Auditorium Main Hall.

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STOCKTON - Since October 2011, the local criminal justice system has changed shape as millions of dollars and hundreds of criminal offenders flowed from the state in a two-fold effort to reduce crowding in state prisons while giving those accused of less-serious felonies a better chance of turning their lives around by getting the help they needed closer to home.

San Joaquin County last week released the most comprehensive account of the change in a report measuring just how effective the local efforts have been as they deal with new responsibilities that came with the statewide shift commonly known as public safety "realignment," or AB109. And officials say the numbers are promising but are far from the final word.

The report focuses on the offenders who had been released from custody for a year or more, and whether they committed new crimes. Depending on the category of offender, roughly 26 percent to 31 percent of so-called AB109 offenders were convicted of new crimes.

That's "pretty good," Chief Probation Officer Stephanie James said. "Is it as good as I want it to be? Probably not," she said. But within those numbers are indications that the treatment programs and supervision are having the desired impact, she said.

"They're not the serious violent offenses, and that is very encouraging."

Of the 388 crimes committed by realignment offenders tracked in the report, only 45 - or roughly 7 percent - are considered violent crimes. They included no murder convictions, but there were two murder arrests.

The county appears to be headed in the right direction, but at least three years of data is needed to know for sure, James said.

Changes from realignment are not what the county would have asked for, but it has been handling the shift well, Sheriff Steve Moore said. He said it started with a "solid" Community Corrections Partnership, a committee of police, prosecutors, defenders, judges, social workers and community leaders that has been steering the county's realignment since before it went into effect.

But the county could lose ground on some of its progress if the state doesn't keep up the needed funding, Moore said, noting proposed changes to the funding formula that reduce money the county receives from the state. "The result would erode things we have already put in place."

The latest report on recidivism also shows rates from offenders receiving new kinds of help from local organizations that have been brought on through realignment. When more data is available, this is something that should be closely watched, Moore said. "We need to be sure we are getting the (community-based organizations) providing the exact type of services needed."

County officials said the numbers also show new methods to assess risk are accurately determining which individuals are the most likely to commit new crimes. Its an important tool, because it helps identify which people need to be watched most closely - or kept locked up. Assessment also helps find what kind of help somebody might need to stay out of trouble. That could be anything from drug treatment to help finding a job.

"(Counties) started to look at the offenders as individuals," said Gregg Fishman, spokesman for the California State Association of Counties. But there has been no uniform approach to the changes. "The 58 counties are unique and they all have different starting points."

In San Joaquin County the changes have been far reaching, from increasing supervision of released inmates, to contracts with charities with strong ties to the local communities, to more chances to treat problems with drugs and mental illness. Changes in the court system has added new methods of enforcement and approaches to sentencing. Some of the county's roughly $17 million annual realignment budget from the state has also been used to help start a task force in Stockton targeting violent crime and to pay for tighter security at the jail's lower-security Honor Farm.

The realignment shift began as an attempt to reduce overcrowding in the state's prisons by putting counties in charge of non-serious, non-violent and non-sex offenders. These lesser felons are now supervised by probation officers, not parole agents. Parole violators, too, have become county responsibility. On the other end, certain felonies that used to land people in prison now will send people to county jails.

"It takes some of our power away," said Deputy District Attorney Robert Himelblau, an agency spokesman. Prison is a tougher sentence than a jail that might have to release somebody early, he said.

Besides the new influx of offenders, inmates can now serve longer than 1-year sentences in county jails. Many county jails in the state, like San Joaquin, are under court order to release inmates early to prevent overcrowding.

Realignment made this problem worse, said Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson, president of the California State Sheriffs' Association. "Frankly, I house the worst of the worst and release the best of the worst," he said. He said counties need protected funding and help building new facilities.

The yet-to-be-approved state budget proposes $500 million for counties to build facilities. It's money San Joaquin County would pursue, Board of Supervisors Chairman Bob Elliott said.

"I am concerned on the effect (realignment) has on our jail space," he said. About 1/3 of the jail's capacity is taken up by AB109 inmates. It seems to have stabilized at the figure, and Elliott also said he was optimistic about a new assessment being developed to help released inmates deemed low risk before their trials.

In total, the county is responding well to the new mandates, Elliott said.

"I think we're doing a very good job of managing the problems (realignment) has created with the funds that we have."

Contact reporter Zachary K. Johnson at (209) 546-8258 or zjohnson@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/johnsonblog and on Twitter @zacharykjohnson.